"Based on the results in Northern Colorado, we'd be crazy not to come back and showcase that part of the state," said Shawn Hunter, CEO of USA Pro Challenge.

"It was a stage that offered a lot to the athletes and the fans," he said. "It had sprints, it had climbing, it had crowds and obviously a beautiful backdrop.

"Saturday was an overwhelmingly successful event," Hunter added. "The crowd exceeded our expectations. Every community we drove through, the entire town was out."

But when the 3-year-old professional bike race might return to Northern Colorado isn't yet clear.

The local organizing committee that won Stage 6 for the region still is in the process of gathering results from the day and won't have a decision on whether to apply for one of 2014's seven stages until next month.

In early October, the committee will make its report to the entities that partnered to bring the race here - the governments of Loveland, Fort Collins, Windsor, Estes Park and Larimer County.

That's also when the bid packages from USA Pro Challenge go out for next year's race, said Bob Herrfeldt, co-chairman of the local organizing committee.

No Guarantee

"It was a good event," Herrfeldt said. "There probably are no reasons out there that we wouldn't do it again, either next year or in two years."

USA Pro Challenge's Hunter sounded a similar "maybe not next year" theme: "We change the course every year, so there's no guarantee for any particular route.

"We like to reward the communities that have hosted us," he said, but organizers also will "continue to explore new areas of the state."

Although Hunter was enthusiastic about the number of spectators he saw at the start in Loveland, the finish in Old Town Fort Collins and all along the 115-mile route, he didn't yet have an official crowd estimate.

He said the company compiling the report on turnout and the economic impact of the race typically takes 45 days to do its work.

Katy Schneider, director of marketing for Visit Fort Collins and the spokeswoman for Northern Colorado's organizing committee, said local promoters never planned to estimate the crowd.

"We were very focused on the media value," she said. The committee employed a clipping service to collect all media mentions of the Northern Colorado stage, and committee members have been doing the same, she said.

"We were very excited about the NBC and NBC Sports broadcasts," she said. The four hours of cable and network airtime alone were more than the region ever could afford to buy, she said.

"That made it well worth it," Schneider said.

International Exposure

Loveland Mayor Cecil Gutierrez, who was thrilled to fire the starting pistol for Stage 6, said the national and international media exposure was key.

"I was interviewed out at The Ranch by several TV stations from outside the region," he said. "One of those was a travel channel for the United Kingdom.

"That kind of exposure makes these kinds of events worthwhile," he said.

Gutierrez said the cost to city departments such as police, public works and economic development still are being compiled. Those expenses will be paid by the lodging-tax-funded Community Marketing Commission, he said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.